日本語↓Due to bad weather, this month’s Green Bird clean up was changed at the last minute from Saturday to Sunday. Despite the change, we had a whole bunch of lovely volunteers show up to help set an example for both locals and tourists alike! We focused this time on Circular Quay, which was dirtier than you might expect (as two volunteers who got ‘lost’ in a particularly dirty alley found). Back streets are ignored while main streets are cleaned…a pattern we saw last year during our Burwood clean up. The two youngest volunteers ran around like they were on a treasure hunt, finding lots of small pieces of rubbish to pick up and drawing attention from the public. Our 7-year-old volunteer said to me, “I could only find little things”, but then we talked about about how all the seemingly small things actually add up to make a mountain, and how the little things hurt sea life and wildlife even more than the big things sometimes. I was also pleasantly surprised to meet a mum who had sent her daughter (our 11 year old volunteer) to the school in Singapore I was working in, at the same time I was there! We hadn’t met because I didn’t teach her, but it was such a nice and nostalgic coincidence. We immediately exchanged photos of our time there, which made me want to go back! I love that Green Bird brings together people that wouldn’t be able to meet otherwise – both old and young. I’m planning to put a petition together to get City of Sydney Council to increase the number of rubbish bins available on the streets, and to ask for more regular clearing of the bins too. Unlike Japan, we do not have a culture where people are willing to go very far to find a bin – they would rather litter than wait. The amount of rubbish we pick up from that council area in particular is not acceptable for a city prizing itself on its clean harbour. I’m planning a clean up in Macquarie next month! If you know anyone who would like to join us – don’t hesitate to invite them along!
*If you have any photos of overflowing bins in the CBD, or if you work or hang out in the CBD and could take some photos and send them to me, I’d like to use the best ones, along with our Green Bird photos, as part of the petition.*
今年の初お掃除は雨天で日にちが急に変更になったため、参加できなくなった方もいましたが、やる気満々のボランティアさんが２６人も来てくださって、本当に感謝しています！今回は初めてサーキュラーキーを現場として選んでお掃除を行ったのですが、やっぱり中華街やジョージストリートよりは綺麗でしたが、裏道で迷った二人のボランティアさんが気づいたようにすぐに目に見えないところではたくさんのゴミが身を隠していましたね。そして最年少の二人のボランティア（１１歳と７歳）が走り回り、塵も積もれば山となるということを忘れずに、小さなゴミくずをいっぱい拾ってくれました。そのボランティアさんの一人はなんと私がシンガポールで先生として働いていた時点で同じ学校に短い間通っていたのです。当時は毎日一緒の場にいたのに会えませんでしたが、グリーンバードの良さはやっぱりこうやって普段会えない人に会えるということを思い出す機会でした。
これから作成する嘆願書に関してですが、グリーンバードで撮った写真と一緒に、溢れているゴミ箱（シドニー市内の）の写真を提出したいです。私はそういう写真をあまり撮れていなかったことに気がついたので、もし市内でそんなゴミ箱を見つけたら写真を撮って、私に送っていただけないのでしょうか。嘆願書の作成にとても役に立ちます！
来月、まだ掃除したことがない新しいところで活動するつもりなので楽しみにしてください！引き続き、グリーンバードを宜しくお願いします！
